Scotland's Unsolved Murders: Look back on the mystery disappearances and cases of the 1960s

00:01, 19 Dec 2015

BySandra Dick

IN the first installment of our Unsolved series, we look back on cases from the 1960s in Scotland - which was an exciting but dangerous time for women.

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Bible John Murder Investigation Newspaper Headlines

IT was an age of change, when women were finding new freedom at home, at work and in their relationships.

From the Summer of Love to glam rock, platform shoes to the pill, life for women in Sixties was an exciting time.

But it also a very dangerous time to be a woman in Scotland - this was the era of Bible John.

It was also a time when unsolved murders and mystery disappearances left Scottish women wondering what might happen next.

In our first installment of our Unsolved series, we look back on cases from the 1960s in Scotland.

Sixties: The Bible John Years.

The Barrowlands in the Gallowgate is part of Glasgow social history, where young couples meet, romance blossoms and lifelong memories are made.

In February 1968 nurse Patricia Docker had spent part of her evening at the over‐25s night at the Barrowlands.

Patricia Docker in a Daily Record murder poster

Her body was found next day in a lane in Carmichael Place, near her Langside Place home on Glasgow’s south side.

She had been raped and strangled. Her handbag and clothes were missing – classic signs the killer had removed ‘trophies’ as reminders of his wicked deed.

The incident cast a dark shadow over the Barrowlands. And worse was to come.

Girl falls into onlookers at the Barrowland Ballroom during a screaming contest

On Friday 15 August, 1969, Jemima McDonald was enjoying a night at the Barrowlands, a break from the demands of raising three children.

Next day rumours circulated of a body lying in a tenement in Mackeith Street in Bridgeton.

Concerned that she hadn’t come home, Jemima’s sister Margaret went to look for herself. She found her sister. Strangled. Raped. Beaten to death.

Jemima McDonald was murdered

Did whoever kill Patricia, also murder Jemima?

Hallowe’en 1969 – just a few weeks later – the Barrowlands was again at the centre of a murder mystery.

Helen Puttock had been out with her sister Jean. They set off for home in a taxi along with a man they’d met.

Helen Puttock was the victim of another mystery murder

He said he was John. And, strangely, he quoted to them lines and passages from the bible.

The name ‘Bible John’ was born.

Jean was dropped off at Knightswood and the taxi headed for Helen’s home in Earl Street, Scotstoun.

Her body was found in the back garden next morning. She had been raped and strangled. Her handbag was missing. Another trophy, perhaps?

Photofit picture of Bible John

Years later serial killer Peter Tobin was working as a church handyman at St Patrick’s RC church in Anderston, Glasgow, when he killed student Angelika Kluk. Detectives later found the remains of Dinah McNicol and Falkirk schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton in the garden of his home in Kent.

He would have been 22 in 1968. He was known to visit the Barrowlands – indeed, he met his first wife there.

It could be pure coincidence. But with no DNA and no witnesses, hopes of bringing ‘Bible John’ to justice are slim.

***

Catherine Duncan was murdered in 1968

MILES away in East Lothian in February 1968, Catherine Duncan, 46, was stabbed to death in her Wallyford home.

And the search continues for the killer of Edinburgh businessman David McMenigall, 52, whose body was found at his Glasgow Road bungalow in Edinburgh, on 24 February, 1966.